Zero waste, or waste minimization, is a set of ideas that focus on stopping waste before it happens. These ideas encourage changing how products are made and used so that materials can be reused or turned into new products instead of being thrown away. The goal is to keep trash out of landfills, incinerators, oceans, and other places in the environment. Right now, only 9% of plastic worldwide is recycled. In a zero waste system, all materials are reused until the best possible use of them is reached.

Zero waste means preventing waste instead of dealing with it after it is created. It is a way of thinking about how materials move through society, aiming to stop waste completely. Zero waste includes more than just reducing, reusing, and recycling. It also involves changing how products are made and sold to reduce waste. It gives rules to help people work toward eliminating waste over time.

According to the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA), zero waste means using all parts of a product so that no resources are wasted. This includes not releasing harmful materials into the land, water, or air that could harm the environment or people.

People who support zero waste believe that rules from the government are needed to help industries choose better designs for products, better ways to make things, and safer materials. They also say that reducing waste can lower pollution and save money because fewer raw materials would be needed.

Cradle-to-Grave

The cradle-to-grave model is a straight-line process that starts with taking natural resources, moves to making products, and ends with the product being thrown away in a landfill. This model is different from cradle-to-cradle, which focuses on recycling materials into new products so that no waste is created.

Cradle-to-cradle aims to design systems where materials are reused in closed loops, reducing waste and allowing materials to be recycled or reused. This model addresses waste problems before they occur by focusing on how products are designed. It helps protect the environment and future generations by creating sustainable systems.

The cradle-to-cradle idea has grown from being a theory to being used in real industries. It changes how materials are viewed, similar to how nature works. In nature, one living thing’s waste becomes food for another. Cradle-to-cradle materials follow this pattern, being reused in cycles that help both the environment and industry.

As industrialization spreads, more waste is created. In 2012, the World Bank reported that cities produced 1.3 billion tons of waste, and this number is expected to rise to 2.2 billion tons by 2025. More waste means more landfills, which are often built near communities with lower incomes and non-white populations. These areas are chosen because it is easier to get permits and there is less opposition from the public. Over the past five years, more than 400 hazardous waste sites have been penalized for safety risks to people.

The world’s growing population faces limited natural resources. To reduce pressure on these resources, waste must be prevented. Moving from a straight-line system to a circular one helps use materials, products, and substances more efficiently. Materials should be chosen so they can safely return to the environment or stay useful in industrial systems.

Zero waste encourages reuse and recycling but also focuses on preventing waste and designing products that consider their entire life cycle. Zero-waste designs aim to use fewer materials, use recycled materials, choose safer materials, make products last longer, and ensure they can be repaired or easily taken apart at the end of their use. Zero waste supports sustainability by protecting the environment, lowering costs, and creating jobs in waste management. A zero-waste plan can be used in businesses, schools, homes, and industries.

Benefits of zero waste include:

• Saving money. Reducing waste lowers costs because waste shows inefficiency.
• Faster progress. Improving waste systems can lead to better production and environmental strategies.
• Supporting sustainability. Zero waste helps achieve economic, environmental, and social goals.
• Better material use. Zero waste uses fewer new materials and sends no waste to landfills. Materials are reused, recycled, or used for compost.

Health

A major problem with landfills is hydrogen sulfide, a gas that forms when waste breaks down naturally. Research has found that higher levels of hydrogen sulfide are linked to more deaths from lung cancer and more health problems related to breathing issues. These studies also show that people who live closer to landfills are more likely to be exposed to hydrogen sulfide.

Household chemicals and prescription drugs are often found in large amounts in the liquid that leaks from landfills. This raises concerns about whether landfills can safely contain these materials and whether they might pollute groundwater and the environment around landfills.

Zero waste encourages a system where materials are reused many times instead of being thrown away. This reduces the need for landfills and lowers the amount of harmful substances released into the air and water. It also helps identify the chemicals used in making products.

Health issues connected to landfills include:
• Birth defects, low birth weight, and exposure to tiny particles and nitrogen dioxide, which are more common for people living near landfills.
• Lung diseases and lung cancer, which are linked to hydrogen sulfide released from landfills.

Promoting zero waste can help reduce the need for new landfills. This may lower the risk of health problems like lung diseases and birth defects caused by harmful substances from landfills. Zero waste can also protect local environments and safe drinking water by keeping pollutants out of ecosystems.

History

In 2001, the California Integrated Waste Management Board set a goal of achieving zero waste. In 2002, the City and County of San Francisco's Department of the Environment also set a zero waste goal. This led to the creation of the City's Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance in 2009.

A group that later became the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) had its first meeting in 2002. The meeting was led by Robin Murray, a British expert in economics and the environment.

In 2008, the term "Zero Waste" described methods for managing waste in manufacturing and cities. Bea Johnson, a French American woman living in California, decided to use this idea in her household of four people. In 2009, she started a blog called Zero Waste Home. In 2010, she was mentioned in The New York Times.

The United Nations General Assembly approved the International Day of Zero Waste on December 14, 2022. The event has taken place every year on March 30 since 2023. During this day, United Nations member countries, organizations, businesses, schools, young people, and others are encouraged to take part in activities that help people understand zero-waste efforts at local, regional, and national levels. These efforts support progress toward sustainable development. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) work together to organize the International Day of Zero Waste.

Packaging Examples

Milk can be transported in several different ways. In the past, reusable glass bottles were commonly used and delivered to homes by milkmen. Today, other methods are more common, such as single-use paperboard cartons, special cartons that keep milk safe without refrigeration, single-use recyclable glass bottles, single-use milk bags, and others. Each method has its own benefits and challenges. From the perspective of reducing waste, reusing bottles is helpful because it uses less material for each delivery compared to other methods. The main material used to make glass bottles is silica, a type of sand. This material is turned into glass, then shaped into bottles. Milk is poured into the bottles, and they are sent to customers. A system called reverse logistics collects the bottles after use, cleans them, checks them for damage, and then uses them again. Over time, the bottles may become too worn to reuse and are then recycled. This process helps reduce waste and the amount of material sent to landfills. The waste created includes things like water used for cleaning, cleaning products, transportation costs, and bottle caps. While completely zero waste is not possible, a method called life cycle assessment can be used to measure waste at each stage of the process.

When people order items online, they are often placed in a large box to hold multiple items together for easier shipping and tracking. This creates extra waste, especially when only one item is ordered. To address this, some products are now designed to be shipped safely without needing a separate outer box. This feature is called "ships in own container."

Recycling

It is important to understand the difference between recycling and zero waste. Recycling often means putting items like bottles, cans, paper, and packaging into curbside bins. However, modern recycling involves more steps, such as financial support and government help. A 2007 report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that the United States recycles about 33.5% of materials nationwide, including composted waste. Large companies now manage recycled materials, but some recycling rates may be misleading. For example, soil and organic matter used to cover landfills are sometimes counted as recycled materials. In areas with recycling incentives, there is pressure to increase reported recycling numbers.

Recycling is different from zero waste. For instance, in the computer industry, millions of personal computers are thrown away as e-waste each year. In 2016, 44.7 million metric tons of e-waste were created globally, but only 20% was recycled. Some companies fix old computers for resale. Community groups also repair donated computers to give to people in need.

A clear example of zero waste versus recycling is found in the software industry. Zero waste design can be used in software development by creating new code instead of reusing small pieces of existing code multiple times. This method saves time and effort. Additionally, storage methods for software have improved, moving from disposable diskettes to long-lasting internal drives that cost less per unit of storage. This is a physical example of how zero waste avoids unnecessary use.

Zero waste is not well supported by laws that enforce the waste hierarchy. A key feature of zero waste is that it can apply to any product, process, or situation. It works for harmful chemicals and harmless plant matter, for air pollution caused by burning coal, and for waste from nuclear power plants. Zero waste aims to reduce waste in all areas, including how products are used and how industries operate. Recycling, however, only deals with simple materials.

Zero waste can also address issues like poverty and lack of education, which waste human potential. It includes designing products to use less energy and protect natural resources like rainforests. It is a general principle of using all resources efficiently.

The recycling movement is slowly expanding beyond waste management to include issues similar to community sustainability efforts. Zero waste, on the other hand, is not limited by waste management challenges. It focuses on maximizing reuse, avoiding harmful methods like burning waste, and designing products to be repaired, reused, or remade. Zero waste ensures that products are built to last and be used again.

Significance of dump capacity

Many landfills are currently holding more waste than they can handle. Some people use this as a reason to support moving toward Zero Waste. Others argue that there are large areas of land in the United States and other countries that could be used for landfills. Some ideas suggest destroying all garbage to solve the waste problem. These ideas often claim that garbage can be turned into oil, and sometimes they say this process would create enough oil to meet the world’s fuel needs. One such idea, called Anything Into Oil, was promoted by Discover Magazine and Fortune Magazine in 2004. It claimed that high-pressure steam could turn a refrigerator into "light Texas crude," a type of oil.

An example of a company changing its landfill waste policy is General Motors (GM). GM plans to make about half of its 181 global plants "landfill-free" by the end of 2010. Companies like Subaru, Toyota, and Xerox are also creating landfill-free plants. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked with GM and other companies for many years to reduce waste through its WasteWise program. GM’s goal is to recycle or reuse more than 90% of materials by selling scrap materials, using reusable boxes instead of cardboard, and recycling used work gloves. Any remaining waste may be burned to create energy for the plants. This approach helps protect the environment and saves money by reducing waste and improving efficiency. Microsoft and Google are two other large companies with Zero Waste goals. These companies aim to keep most of their waste out of landfills. Google has six locations with a goal to keep 100% of their waste out of landfills. Microsoft has a similar goal but aims to keep 90% of its waste out of landfills. These organizations work to make the world cleaner and reduce waste.

A garden center in Faversham, UK, has started to stop using plastic plant pots for customers. Instead, it reuses plastic pots locally within the garden center. When selling plants to customers, it repots them into paper plant pots. It also sells plants wrapped in hessia, a type of natural fiber, and uses other methods to avoid giving customers single-use plastics.

Waste sent to landfills can be used as useful materials, such as in the production of solar energy or natural fertilizer for crops. It can also be reused or recycled into items that can be used again. "The success of General Motors in creating zero-landfill facilities shows that zero-waste goals can be a powerful way for manufacturers to reduce their waste and carbon footprint," says Latisha Petteway, a spokesperson for the EPA.

Market-based campaigns

Campaigns that use the Zero Waste slogan, such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) and the precautionary principle, are often claimed to lead to Zero Waste policies. However, there is currently no proof that EPR increases reuse, as it may only move waste management responsibilities to private companies. The precautionary principle requires companies to prove new chemicals are safe before using them, rather than relying on the public to test them. This connection to Zero Waste is unclear. Many organizations, cities, and counties use the Zero Waste slogan but do not support key changes needed for true Zero Waste. Instead, they often focus only on recycling as their main goal. Some businesses, like Staples, Home Depot, Toyota, General Motors, and computer take-back programs, claim to support Zero Waste but typically mean they are increasing recycling efforts, not redesigning products. Past campaigns, such as those that changed McDonald's meat sourcing and Nike's labor practices, succeeded because they involved consumers as active participants in economic decisions. However, campaigns that only aim to reduce waste through recycling, rather than redesigning products, cannot be called true Zero Waste efforts. In EPR programs, producers should be held responsible for product packaging, not consumers, to encourage greater producer involvement.

How to achieve

National and provincial governments often set goals and may offer some money, but in practice, waste management programs (such as trash pickup, recycling drop-off, or composting containers) are usually managed by local governments. These programs may use shared facilities in certain areas.

Achieving zero waste requires products made by manufacturers and designers to be easy to take apart for recycling and reuse in natural or industrial systems. Making products last longer and easier to repair helps reduce waste. Using less packaging also helps solve problems early in the production process. Even without government rules, choices by stores and consumers to support zero-waste-friendly products can influence how products are made. More schools are encouraging students to think about how their actions affect the environment and to avoid harmful habits. To keep materials from becoming waste, people, businesses, and organizations must learn how to reduce waste and recycle properly.

In the book Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste, the author, Bea Johnson, introduces a modified version of the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) called the 5 Rs: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot. This method, developed through years of living with little to no waste, helped her family reduce their yearly trash to fit in a small jar. Today, this approach is used by individuals, businesses, and cities worldwide.

The Zero Waste Hierarchy outlines steps to support a zero-waste system, starting with the most effective strategies and moving to less effective ones. It applies to everyone, from leaders who make policies to businesses and individuals. It builds on the widely known 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) by encouraging actions and investments at the top of the hierarchy. It also helps people plan systems or products that move society closer to zero waste. Globally, many countries use a pollution prevention hierarchy in rules about recycling, waste management, and resource use. In Canada, this hierarchy, called the Environmental Protection Hierarchy, is included in all recycling rules and resource conservation methods. While adding a fourth R (Recovery) before disposal was a good idea, many groups focused on this step instead of the top of the hierarchy. This led to expensive systems that harm the environment rather than reducing waste. Because of this and other harmful systems, Zero Waste Canada and the Zero Waste International Alliance have adopted the only globally reviewed Zero Waste Hierarchy that focuses on the first three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (including compost).

Zero waste jurisdictions

Many governments have set a goal of achieving zero waste. These include:

• Brazil: Florianópolis, Santa Catarina
• Canada: Vancouver (part of the Zero Waste 2040 Strategy)
• Italy: Capannori, Tuscany
• Japan: Kamikatsu, Tokushima (recycles 80% of waste at the Kamikatsu Zero Waste Center and aims for zero waste)
• Sweden: Nationwide
• United States: Austin, Texas; Boulder, Colorado; Fort Collins, Colorado; Chula Vista, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; San Jose, California; Oakland, California

In the UK, a network governance approach was used during the New Labour government. This involved creating groups that brought together important people in waste management, such as local government officials, waste industry workers, and government representatives. These groups worked voluntarily. There is no clear government plan for how to reduce landfill waste, so local and regional groups have more freedom to decide how to meet goals. The government sets the overall goal, but the specific methods are left to local groups to choose.

Zero Waste is a plan supported by environmental organizations. However, the waste industry prefers a costly method called energy from waste incineration. Studies show that public support is important for success. In Taiwan, public opinion helped businesses change how they use materials to support Zero Waste.

California is a leading state in the United States for zero-waste goals. It has the most cities in the Zero Waste International Alliance. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, many cities have defined what it means to be a Zero Waste community and set goals to reach that status. Some of these cities include Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, Pasadena, Alameda, and San Jose.

San Francisco defines zero waste as "zero discards to the landfill or high-temperature destruction." The city uses a step-by-step plan to reach its goal, which includes preventing waste, reducing and reusing materials, and recycling and composting. Los Angeles defines zero waste as "maximizing waste kept out of landfills and reducing waste at the source, with the goal of creating more-sustainable waste management practices." To achieve this, changes must be made in how products are created, used, and disposed of.

Zero-waste stores

Retail stores that focus on reducing waste and using less packaging have started in different countries, such as Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. By October 2024, there are more than 200 stores in the United Kingdom that sell products without packaging or with very little packaging. These stores allow customers to bring their own containers to carry the items they buy.

Zero-waste restaurants

Since the middle of the 2010s, more restaurants in countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, and Finland have started using zero-waste practices. These restaurants reduce food and waste from their operations by using all parts of ingredients, composting waste on the premises, and making new dishes from leftover food.